Despite making a recent concession to consumers, the Spore DRM saga doesn't seem likely to stop vexing publisher Electronic Arts any time soon.

In the latest development, Courthouse News Service reports that a class action lawsuit has been filed in U.S. District Court. From the CNS story:

Electronic Arts, a leading maker of computer games, defrauds consumers through its "Spore" game, which "completely wipes their hard drive" and replaces it with an undisclosed program that prevents the computer from operating under some circumstances and disrupts hardware operations, a class action claims in Federal Court.

Consumers are not warned about the program, which is installed without notice and cannot be uninstalled, even if the uninstall Spore, the complaint states. The secret SecuROM program is "secretly installed to the command and control center of the computer (Ring 0, or the Kernel), and surreptitiously operated, overseeing function and operation on the computer, preventing the computer from operating under certain circumstances and/or disrupting hardware operations," the complaint states.

Why doesn't EA mention Securom on the box? This shit wouldn't nearly be as bothersome if we just knew what we were getting into.

Most Pro-Corporate people will say "I've had Securom/starforce and it never bothered me!". Well that's nice, there are a lot of people who've smoked ciggarettes and never been bothered by Lung Cancer. There's a lot of people who drive 80mph in residential areas without getting a ticket or killing a pedestrian. Why expose yourself to unecessary risk?

Good point, they are literally afraid of putting it on the box. It's like you said, for example smoking. Look at that nice cancer sign posted on there. Big Tobacco doesn't like that and neither would EA but noting this is not like Mass Effect, which though is a popular game Spore was made in mind for not just the average gamer but everyone. I think this is the worst game they could of added DRM too to add attention of the growing concern of DRM.

There Red Commander or whatever series its not going to mean much if it has DRM but now a game like this or Sims 3 lol EA is going to have a problem

Just for those wondering, EA did NOT include any relavent information pertaining to SecuROM or another program download in the EULA. There is only one vague mention of technichal protection measures. It is on the first page if you are curious.

im glad that someone sueing them about the malware that securom is. though it went a little off topic hopefully that wont effect that he said the two differnt programs that one is installed with out the customer permission and stays on after the game is unistall.

I've got some legal experience, my dad's a lawyer and I worked in his law firm for 2 years. Plus I have taken 2 law courses myself. I have to say that this lawyer doesn't sound very good, for one he goes on and on about what Spore is. That's completely off topic, all he needed to do was establish that Spore and DRM are two different programs, which he did in the first paragraph. He didn't need to explain the plotline of spore, the goals of it, etc.

Still hoping EA gets taken down a peg or two, just think that the lawyer could do a better job.

One thing that I've noticed that NO ONE is talking about is what is even more nefarious about this DRM -- it links the unique ID to your EA account. That means that once you're done with it and you no longer want to play, YOU CANNOT SELL IT! Unlike books, CDs, DVDs, and so forth, this nefarious scheme of EAs totally tramps all over any rights to "first sale".

Don't kid yourselves, people. This has little to nothing to do with stopping pirates. It has EVERYTHING to do with destroying the used games market.

In Japan is it illegal to sell or rent games purchased. Sony for example has something that is built in a PS3. What it can do is it can prevent anyone selling or renting a game from playing that game on another system maybe the worst kind of DRM of them all and in Japan this is an accepted practice. However seeing the PS3 seriously is a failure due to their overconfidence they thankfully choose not to activite this feature. I guess Sony didn't fully shoot for the sun ;)

I'm actually inclined to agree, I pirated Spore in a day of downloading, it took about 40 seconds to figure out the crack (that someone else made) without a readme, I've been enjoying ever since. Frankly Ea can go f*** itself. The interesting part is I wasn't tracking spore I was just bored and remembered it was out, one day later, spore works great and I'm conquoring the galaxy mega-pulse in hand. If the DRM does stop reselling then it seems like that's all it's stoping

Ever since Lionhead Studios started with putting a "call home" key in the registry when installing Black and White, computer companies have gotten bolder and bolder. Maybe we consumers as a group will lose this fight, maybe not. I do wish we would have had a class action lawsuit that focused on post purchase support. How can a company sell a game, patch it once, leaving immeasurable glitches unaddressed, and then tell the customer point blank that they are no longer patching the game??? And worse, the company goes under and its catalog sold and the new owners refuse to support the former companies products tho they have the copyright. If their was a possibility for a full refund that ones issue, but when they say you have to return the product unopened to get your money back, then that is in the realm of ludicrous.

"If that's true, then call me a pirate because I lost my StarCraft cd, which I bought on release day and still have the box, manual, little advertising box inserts, and cd case for, and use an image that I made of a friend's cd to play. If Blizzard comes after me and tries to sue me for piracy, which they won't since I have all the original stuff including my own cd key, then I would tell them to kiss my ass and wouldn't buy Diablo3 or SC2 no matter how much I actually want them after near-begging for both these last 8-10 years."

As of earlier this year (February), you no longer need the CD in the drive to play Starcraft. Blizzard patched the game so their long-term fans were less inconvenienced. I'm not going to call you a pirate, but I will call you an idiot for not making a backup of the game CD as the EULA permits you and then crying Waagh when you lose it. I see so many pirates use this as one of their excuses and, although I am against most forms of DRM implementation, 'losing the CD/DVD' (read: because I am lazy and/or stupid) is not a valid excuse. Make a backup if you are prone to losing things. If you don't want to do that or can't be bother to find out how to, you take responsibility for the risk of losing the only copy you have.

If you lose a film DVD or a music CD, this does not give you the right to steal another copy if you lose the original. You bought the original as a hardcopy, not in digital form. 360s and PS3s have enough hard disc memory to play the game from the console without needing the disc, but the games manufacturer has decided you need the disc to play it. If you buy the product in this state, whether it's a PC games DVD or a PS3 Blu-Ray disc, you must abide by their decision. It's only when you buy the game via digital distribution or the game allows a complete install from disc that you have a valid claim when you are told you are no longer allowed to play the game you paid for.

You obviously didn't comprehend what I said. I bought the game, years later I lost the CD, and created an image to use for installing/playing. Sure, Blizzard made it not need the CD to play anymore, but you still need it to install, and that image is still used for that. Its no different at all from making a physical backup disk. So yes, I DID make a backup of the game disk, only in digital form instead of physical(which requires a digital copy to be made first anyways). Nowhere, nowhere, did I whine and cry. I simply said that if Blizzard were to try and take me to court for it I would tell them to kiss my ass since I legally own the game and they wouldn't have a leg to stand on.

Oh, and calling me stupid and lazy because I lost a cd after the game has been out for 10 years? Please. I'm sure everyone, including you, has lost newer, more expensive stuff even faster than that. I'll admit I have older games still hanging around, but none of them got travelled all over the place like my SC disk did either.

"As of earlier this year (February), you no longer need the CD in the drive to play Starcraft. Blizzard patched the game so their long-term fans were less inconvenienced. I'm not going to call you a pirate, but I will call you an idiot for not making a backup of the game CD as the EULA permits you and then crying Waagh when you lose it. I see so many pirates use this as one of their excuses and, although I am against most forms of DRM implementation, 'losing the CD/DVD' (read: because I am lazy and/or stupid) is not a valid excuse. Make a backup if you are prone to losing things. If you don't want to do that or can't be bother to find out how to, you take responsibility for the risk of losing the only copy you have."

...wow. Where do you see him "crying"? He said he lost the game, so he copied it from a friend's disc. I fail to see the tears. As a matter of fact, it sounds to me like he did exactly what you told him he should have done, except he waited until after he lost the disc to copy it. Which matters...how? The only one it makes a difference to AT ALL is him, because he had to wait until he obtained a copy from his friend and burned it before playing, as opposed to popping the burned backup into the drive immediately.

I've always kind of been on the fence about DRM, feeling that it was a necessary evil and that the negative reaction to it, even with Spore was a tad overblown. Even though I'd personally prefer that there be no DRM at all on any game.

Incidentally, I sent Dennis this link to an article in Ars Technica that took a look at how Spore's DRM actually worked. I emailed him the link, but so far he hasn't put it on. Here it is for anyone who wants to read it.:

I hate sounding like JT on this, but Dennis, is it because it doesn't neatly fit into the largely anti-DRM consensus on here that you haven't run it?

Anyway, with Spore, even I have to admit that what EA did went beyond the pale. And I also do agree with Hal's assertion that people like me who normally wouldn't even consider piracy may turn to it if I were to get myself a copy.

And I am glad that this is finally happening. Really, it was only a matter of time until something like this happened and a sufficient number of consumers got pissed off enough to want to do something about it. Like someone on another thread said; DRM is simply put, a bad idea. Eventually the companies will realize this and it will be done away with. It happened with StarForce, and it will happen with SecuRom. This will be a major embarassment to EA, giving them a nasty black eye in the process that should (hopefully) make them think twice about ever using it again.

Who knows? They may even look at StarDock's DRM-less business model, how well they're regarded because of it, and realise that doing away with it may go a long way towards rehabilitating theoir own image. Yeah, it's a long shot, but I'm a cockeyed optimist.

The one thing I'm particulaly hopeful about? That they'll rethink their current stance on Red Alert 3's DRM and just remove it altogether prior to release.

That's it. From a site that thoroughly tests applications that are not controversial, they sure dropped the ball hard on this controversial subject. Guess what their results were. The DRM is not as big a problem as we thought.

The reinstall limit is frankly secondary to the invasive malmare that is Securom, but still as a consumer we should not be having to RENT something we paid full price for. EA need to be shpwn that treating its own customers in this way is not acceptable.

2) GP may have known of the story, but did not publish it on this site. Why? Well, for one, there is a huge hole in the way they tested it. They lied to the EA customer rep about its usage. Also, they claimed that there was a three install machine limit and claimed that you can reinstall it multiple times on the same machine. However, if you need to reinstall windows and you've changed your hardware configuration, that counts as another machine install. Plus, as I pointed out earlier, EA is not disclosing that you have a 3 install limit or that there is DRM bing installed on your machine prior to purchase.

Sortableturnip's Law: As an online discussion of video game violence grows longer, the probability of a comparison involving Jack Thompson approaches 1

I'm going to have to go with #2 on this one. The article focused only on the install limit and not the fact that SecuROM installs itself secretly and is unable to be removed by any normal, harmless way(editing the registry by hand is never completely harmless). Or the fact that it causes issues with other software such as cd/dvd burning software and even Microsoft developed Windows debuggers.

"Oh, but Unruly, what would a legitimate user ever need a program like Alcohol 120% and Daemon Tools for? Only pirates use those kinds of programs."

If that's true, then call me a pirate because I lost my StarCraft cd, which I bought on release day and still have the box, manual, little advertising box inserts, and cd case for, and use an image that I made of a friend's cd to play. If Blizzard comes after me and tries to sue me for piracy, which they won't since I have all the original stuff including my own cd key, then I would tell them to kiss my ass and wouldn't buy Diablo3 or SC2 no matter how much I actually want them after near-begging for both these last 8-10 years.

Besides, it the principle that programs like Daemon Tools and Alcohol 120% are something that I've chosen to install on my computer and a game company shouldn't have any say over what can be run on my personal, bought and paid for, legally OWNED computer. There is nothing inherently illegal in what those programs do. There are legitimate reasons to run them. Just like there are legitimate reasons to have 2 cd drives at once. Not every game doesn't require the cd in the tray. Most old games do require the cd in the tray, and a lot of newer games still do as well. I have 2 cd drives so I don't have to swap out disks as often, both during installs and during play. Ever sit down and reinstall WoW and TBC expansion with one cd drive? You have to swap 8 disks in and out. With WotLK coming, that number is gonna go up to 12. I have 2 cd drives, and an optional external 3rd that was bought for my laptop, so that I can reduce that number of swaps down to 6, or even 4 if I so choose.

I still don't understand how the shit DRM is constitutional. You bet if someone told Americans how many miles they could drive a month they'd freak the fuck out. This is a BLATANT FUCKING ASSAULT ON YOUR RIGHTS. How can so few care, even the non-gamers?

Land of the free my ass.

PS: I'm not insulting American, I live in Canada and our laws are basically copied from yours. Which is sort of my point. Americans are always up in arms about things that threaten their freedoms yet so few care about this (and don't cite the people here, obviously people on this site care, but in the grand scheme of things, extremely few people care about this).

I wouldn't care if they gave me 10,000 installs. It's not right and should be illegal.

Nonsense! The US declaration of independence basically condones piracy in the case of a situation where people are being taken advantage of by a body that is in some sort of position of authority. Clearly this is such a case.

The Declaration of Independence condones nothing. It simply states that due to grievances we have suffered that we henceforth cut ourselves off from England, and that any attempt to retie those bonds of government will be met with force. It was simply a declaration of a nation's newfound and self declared independence.

It doesn't matter anyways. The Declaration of Independence is in no way a piece of law. It was written a decade before our Constitution was even drafted and effects in no way any type of governement or personal proceedings.

You're forgetting this particular line: But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security.

Essentially, it means that those with the ability to take action have the responsibility to take action. Therefore, if we have to commit crimes to correct an injustice... so it shall be.

"Censorship is the child of fear and the father of ignorance." -Laurie Halse Anderson

"Censorship is the child of fear and the father of ignorance."
-Laurie Halse Anderson

You don't have the right to DRM free games, you have the right to choose whether or not you want to purchase said games given these built-in restrictions. As much as these heavy handed tactics piss me off, I think some of need to be thrown into a country with a true authoritarian government. Maybe then you'll stop whining about your rights with respect to luxeries.

I'm saying they shouldn't have the RIGHT to illegally install monitoring software without saying so, and telling you when, how many times, and for how long you can use a product. That is completely bullshit and it boggles my mind that anyone can be defending such fascism and blatant invasion of privacy.

Actually, as it stands right now there is legal precedent due ot the Sony BMG CD issue from (2005?).

The issue stands at the fact that EA didn't fully disclose information about the DRM, either with a label on the box nor in the EULA (End User License Agreement)

nor do they inform users that the program will not be uninstalled after uninstalling Spore (though why would you since it uses one of your tokens)

nor do they offer an easily accessable uninstaller of Securom

Nor is their consideration on resource use/security risk mentioned with the use of Securom, which is extremely important since it seems to function as a rootkit

This is very close to the problems Sony went through, since placing CDs inside the computer autlomatically installed the software without the users knowledge, and was never acknowledged until after the fact.

Again, this isn't an issue on the use of DRM itself, but disclosure of information before purchase, especially since you can't return opened PC games anymore.

"You bet if someone told Americans how many miles they could drive a month they'd freak the fuck out.You bet if someone told Americans how many miles they could drive a month they'd freak the fuck out."

They actually do DO that. If you've ever leased a car, they come with mileage restrictions. You can only drive say 4000 miles a month and if you go over that its like $.17 a mile or $.75 a mile.

This would be more like car companies recording the face of anyone allowed to drive one car in an attempt to stop carjacking, but only being able to record 3 faces. So a family with 4 drivers would have to get another car, but carjackers could just hotwire the car and steal it anyway.

In any case, replace it with Ford saying "by the way, you're only allowed to drive this car for 200 miles before it will self destruct and you have to buy a new one" or with the government saying they're only allowed to drive 500 miles a month.

There's one thing I wonder about this DRM. Was there any kind of warning about SecuROM (or a mention of a copy protection software).

Because in Québec (where I live) if a company installs this kind of thing without warning the user (on the box, since you'll have trouble getting a refund with an opened box), there's enough ground for a refund and (if you wish to push on) a lawsuit.

Two years ago, I saw a case about a parent buying an MMORPG for his son (didn't knew what a MMORPG was) and was surprised that the game asked for fees AFTER buying the game itself. The additionnal fees weren't on the box (hence, to know about the fees, you HAD to open the box), so the parent had enough ground to ask for a refund.

In the US, there are no warnings on the packaging relating to Securom in any way: not that it's there, not that it can cause conflicts, nada.

If memory serves, certain Sims2 content packs were sold in other countries with a warning about 'copy protection technology'. But never in the US. I don't believe it's required by US law, so they don't. They probably drape themselves in the DMCA to wriggle out of it, as they first tried to do when TheSims2 EP Bon Voyage came with Securom and caused players innumerable technical problems.

Didn't fly with players, so they were sent to find fixes with Sony/Securom instead - not EA.

Ugh. No matter what happens, EA has had this coming for over a year. If this one fails, I wouldn't be surprised to see another pop up in its place.

If our version, here in Québec, is the US one (which I'm not sure), they they violate a law about "hidden vices".

Thanks to the OPC (office de la protection du consommater, litteraly "Consumer Protection Office"), a company MUST disclose everything included in the package on the box. There'd be enough ground for either a refund and/or a lawsuit.

Brush up on their terminology?! How about sticking to just getting the facts right! A half-decent corporate lawyer will tear that crap up in no time. This suit might as well be argued by Jack Thompson for all the merit it has.

I'm all in favour of no DRM or hassle-free DRM (if there is such a thing) in games and I'm no fan of EA, but this is just a shitty attempt to extort money from a big corporation. Again.

If you read the actual copy of the lawsuit, you will see it isn't some typical get money suit. They go after what Securom is, and the fact that EA never disclosed to the general public either through labels or warnings in the EULA what Securom is or what it does. By posting things like the Spore FAQ on Securom, and the EULA they show that EA tried to pass it off as some type of online connection, instead of separate piece of software.

BTW, the reports aren't 100% correct on their reporting of the case. The main defendant/lawyer is not suing due to actual damages caused by Securom, though that is part of the overall suit, and never mentions that it will wipe a hard drive. Instead they state that this is one of the few ways to actually completely remove Securom, and quote people who have had Securom damage their computers.

Actually from what I can see besides the 'completely wipes your harddrive' its all true for securom, or at least some versions of it, maybe not the spore version, but the bioshock one supposedly installed a rootkit, potentially giving control of the PC to the program.

Actually, the thing in Bioshock doesn't. This came up when Bioshock was released, and we ended up plowing through a few systems to check for a rootkit. Nada. And when Bioshock was uninstalled, the protection went with it.

Yeah, I have or had several games on my computer that used SecuROM, including the ones you mentioned (BioShock, Crysis, etc.) and have never experienced any real problems with them. The worst that happened was that the CD for Crysis would make a weird clicking noise in my Lite-On DVD drive whenever it would spin-up for the first time after putting it in the drive, though I was later to understand that had more to do with the DVD disc itself, as it was dual-layered. So out of fear of wrecking the drive, I got a DVD-free crack.

Still, I've yet to experience any of the problems SecuROM reportedly causes, and I'm largely chalking them up to urban myth. For that matter, I never had much of a problem with StarForce either now that I think back on it.

Shout box

Infophile: @Matt: Apparently Dan Aykroyd actually is involved. We don't know how yet, though, but he's apparently going to be in the movie in some way.08/02/2015 - 4:17am

Mattsworkname: I still hold that not having the origonal cast invovled in any way hurts this movie, and unless the 4 actresses in the lead roles can some how measure up to the comic timing of the origonal cast, i just don't see it being a success08/02/2015 - 12:46am

Mattsworkname: Mecha: regardless of what you think of it, GB 2 was a finanical success and for it time did well with audiances ,even if it wasnt as popular as the first08/02/2015 - 12:45am

MechaTama31: I think they're better off trying to do something different, than trying to be exactly the same and having every little difference held up as a shortcoming. Uncanny valley.08/01/2015 - 11:57pm

MechaTama31: Having the original cast didn't do much for... that pink-slimed atrocity which we must never speak of.08/01/2015 - 11:56pm

Mattsworkname: Andrew: If the new ghostbusters bombs, I cant help but feel it'll be cause it removed the origonal cast and changed the formula to much08/01/2015 - 8:31pm

Andrew Eisen: Not the best look but that appears to be a PKE meter hanging from McCarthy's belt.08/01/2015 - 7:34pm

Mattsworkname: You know what game is a lot of fun? rocket league. It' s a soccer game thats actually fun to play cause your A Freaking CAR!08/01/2015 - 7:02pm

Mattsworkname: Nomad colossus did a little video about it, showing the world and what can be explored in it's current form. It's worth a look, and he uses text for commentary as not to break the immerison08/01/2015 - 5:49pm

Mattsworkname: I feel some more mobility would have made it more interesting and I feel that a larger more diverse landscape with better graphiscs would help, but as a concept, it interests me08/01/2015 - 5:48pm

Andrew Eisen: Huh. I guess I'll have to check out a Let's Play to get a sense of the game.08/01/2015 - 5:47pm

Mattsworkname: It did, I found the idea of exploring a world at it's end, exploring the abandoned city of a disappeared alien race and the planets various knooks and crannies intriqued me.08/01/2015 - 5:46pm

Andrew Eisen: Did it appeal to you? If so, what did you find appealing?08/01/2015 - 5:43pm

Mattsworkname: Its an interesting concept, but it's not gonna appeal to everyone thats for sure,08/01/2015 - 5:40pm

Andrew Eisen: That sounds horrifically boring. Doesn't sound like an interesting use of its time dilation premise either. 08/01/2015 - 5:36pm

Mattsworkname: an observer , seeing this sorta frozen world and being able to explore without any restriction other then time. no enimes, no threats, just the chance to explore08/01/2015 - 5:34pm